Inaugural B1G Hockey schedule released

3 years ago

Wisconsin looks to make a grand debut when it returns a group of 16 seniors and juniors from a team the captured the WCHA playoff title and skated as one of the nation's top teams over the final four months of this past season.

The veteran Badgers get a chance to ease into the 2013-14 campaign with two series in October and three series in both November and December.

The Badgers open their slate on Friday, Oct. 11, with a Kohl Center game against WCHA-member Northern Michigan. The teams meet again the following day to finish off the season-opening weekend.

A trip to Boston to take on Boston College (Oct. 18) and Boston University (19) opens UW's road schedule, before a bye week brings the Badgers to a home series against WCHA-member Lake Superior State (Nov. 1-2). A second bye week follows, setting up UW's road trip to Miami (Nov. 15-16).

UW opens its first Big Ten season on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 29-30, at arch-rival Minnesota.

UW's first home Big Ten games take place the following weekend when Penn State returns to the Kohl Center on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6-7.

The Penn State series ushers in a 12-game home stretch that takes the Badgers through just shy of two months' worth of home contests. National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC)-member Colorado College visits on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13-14, before the holiday break. Then WCHA-member Alabama Huntsville visits, to close out 2013 on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 27-28.

The new year opens with the WCHA's Alaska Anchorage on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 3-4, before the Badgers return to Big Ten action.

League action heats up with visits by Michigan (Jan. 10-11) and Ohio State (Jan. 24-25), which also happen to close out Wisconsin's extended homestand.

After a trip to Michigan (Jan. 31-Feb. 1), Wisconsin plays host to Minnesota on Friday, Feb. 7, while the second game of the series will either take place on Thursday, Feb. 6 or Saturday, Feb. 8. That is to be determined.

Wisconsin's final home contests take place on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21-22, against Michigan State.The 2014 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, which includes all six league schools, runs Thursday through Saturday, March 20-22 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

NCAA regionals run the following weekend, from March 28-30, in St. Paul, Minn., Cincinnati, Bridgeport, Conn., and Worcester, Mass.

The 2014 NCAA Men's Frozen Four returns to Pennsylvania for the second-consecutive season, but this time at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.